as for this election the president says that will take a backseat. >> the election will take care of itself next week. right now our number one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives. >> nbc news political director chuck todd joins me now to fill us in on what we know about what the president is doing. chuck, i just got this note passed to my desk that the president will remain in d.c. through tomorrow, not going out on the campaign trail. this is a big effect coming into the homestretch. >> he's canceled tomorrow's events. you would assume in some form or another governor romney will blow back some events. they've canceled some today, for instance, on romney's side, but they turned one campaign event into a relief event in ohio, but the president at 11:45, he's holding a conference call with mayors and governors in the affected areas and all of them together and that will take 30 or 40 minutes and that is what the white house is focused on at this point, so i assume we'll hear from the president some time today and probably not until later this afternoon after there's a b